A Marriage Below Zero - opera libretto - 4. Act Three – New York

Act Three – New York

Pre-Scene One: “Mile by Mile”

(Before the scrim – darkness. The intrada conveys passage; passage of time and travel by rail, then sounds of the sea and ships, but also passages of Arthur sinking deeper into PTSD with panicked reliving of ELSIE’s perceived blackmail – also of ELSIE’s joyful release, of her hope that this trip will bring her husband to the point of loving her. The end of the Intrada quiets into the Epigrafe as the lights darkly rise on the CORO in the flank positions)

 

No. 40 – Intrada con Epigrafe Continuo

 

CORO:

What fruit from sewing comes forth

Is that which we ourselves supply it –

Sweet or bitter, it must henceforth,

Blame or praise, be what we made it.

 

 

No. 41 – Recitativo-narrativo con Cavatina

(As the chorus begins, enter MRS. RAVENER from stage left. She looks nervous, like she might not want to carry her story to it bitter end)

 

CORO:

Mile by mile,

Across the sea,

Elsie feels her trouble

Slowly recede

Behind her.

 

[Cavatina]

MRS. RAVENER:

I was eager and quite ready

To forgive Arthur everything –

(with bitter irony)

And not my girl-rival cling.

(knowing this was dilution)

 

I hemmed him so close that I could not see

How desperate he was to be free of me –

With each stroke, I drove him farther to sea.

 

 

(sadly resolved to finish the story)

Mile by mile, I forgot happy,

And I let my fancy console,

That mile by mile, I reached my goal.

 

CORO:

Journey’s end,

The troop prepared

To join the busy throng

And be compelled

Hotel bound.

 

 

Scene One: “From the Mirror”

(Lights fade on the chorus, and MRS. RAVENER exits. During the course of the scene, the chorus exits. The scrim rises on a central parlor of a hotel suite. Stage left are cheery windows looking out on Manhattan, stage right, the door from the corridor, and stage center rear are two separated doors – one to ELSIE’s room and one to ARTHUR’s room. Between the windows hangs a mirror. In the parlor are soft seating, and a central table for taking meals. Enter ELSIE from the corridor, followed by LETTY and then MAMMA.)

No. 42 – Recitativo con Cavatina a Terzettino

 

ELSIE:

(gleefully whipping off her hat – taking LETTY by the hands)

Letty, You are my dearest friend!

Thank you for accompanying us.

 

LETTY:

Yes. It is opportunity,

Of the best sort, for me to test

The fervor of my London beau.

 

MAMMA:

(making a noise to show she should be included in the thanks)

Yes Elsie, why you needn’t thank

Your maternally Mamma for her

Picant, and self-less, sacrifice.

(ELSIE and LETTY look at each other genuinely not knowing what sacrifice MAMMA is referring to)

Leaving the Season prematurely.

 

(ELSIE and LETTY share a quiet eye-roll)

 

[Cavatina a Terzettino]

MAMMA:

Elsie dear,

Arthur’s tense when with you.

He’s displaying stressful habits –

Wring hands, biting lips in fear,

And an air of gloom he emits.

Elsie dear –

He seems afraid of you.

 

ELSIE:

Oh. Pshaw –

I’m the one who knows him best.

(a due)

 

LETTY:

It’s displayed

On his face through and through,

Like he’s suffered an injury,

And each time to relive it he’s made

Deeper to feel the perjury.

He’s afraid –

To too long be near you.

 

ELSIE:

Oh. Poo Poo –

I’m the one who knows him best.

(a due)

 

MAMMA:

Elsie dear –

It seems you have hurt him.

 

LETTY:

I agree –

It seems you have aggrieved him.

 

ELSIE:

Fiddlesticks –

I’m the one who best knows him.

(a tre at recapitulation)

 

No. 43 – Recitativo con Duettino

(Enter ARTHUR, looking shockingly lank and stressed. With him is a man of the chorus dressed as a porter. The porter carries some packages which he sets on the table. ARTHUR carries a portmanteau in one hand and a ribbon-tied bundle of letters in the other. He hands the letters to LETTY.)

 

ARTHUR:

All from one certain London youth.

(ARTHUR attempts a smile as LETTY makes a small leap of excitement, then presses the pile to her heart. His eyes darken though as he glances at ELSIE, who looks disgusted.)

 

MAMMA:

(to the porter)

Show us to our quarters, young man.

(Exit Porter, MAMMA and then LETTY. ELSIE and ARTHUR alone. During the following Duettino, the dance generally follows ELSIE trying to comfort ARTHUR with closeness – but ARTHUR is only agitated by her nearness and the reminder of her perceived, treacherous, blackmail. The dance ends with ARTHUR crumpled on his knees with ELSIE standing behind him thinking she is offering soothing relief to his troubled heart.)

 

[Duettino]

ELSIE:

I’m so glad to bring on this change –

Free from temptations,

Free to rearrange,

Far from old associations.

(ARTHUR cringes at the oblique reference to Dill. ELSIE tries to move closer to him in maternal soothing, but ARTHUR moves away from her touch.)

 

ELSIE:

A complete diversion –

From those painful past events –

New York can hide Nodding Hill.

Everything is new to us –

Associations subsumed,

Here even the news of London

Is an aged ten days old.

(ELSIE again moves to ARTHUR, and this time succeeds in placing her hands on his shoulders. He wilts under them as if a heavy burden to bear.)

Where you can rest assure –

You’re unlikely to meet a soul.

Here we can have closure,

And let sweet Love exact her toll.

(AR slips from under her grip. Aside – pleading)

Move from wooed to wooer.

(ARTHUR feels self-exposed, and aware that he needs to placate ELSIE. As he proceeds, he becomes aware that he cannot make his words bend to ELSIE’s wanting, and extends his hands/arms to her, though he does not approach her)

 

ARTHUR:

In this environment so strange -

Free from affections,

Free to so enrange

Far from hopeful affirmations.

(ARTHUR slowly goes over to the mirror and touches his sallow features. The lights fade on ELSIE who is frozen.)

 

ARTHUR:

(aside)

Ashen white, pale as death,

I turn my face from the mirror –

Ashamed of my own weakness.

Every bit of fellowship

Is stripped from my expression.

Every bit of trust, of hope –

Of all goodness from me fled.

(moving to the frozen ELSIE)

Here you’d have me abjure –

And kill the last hope of my soul.

Here you think you’ll have cure,

And let Revenge exact your toll.

(touching ELSIE’s hands – unfreezing her. ARTHUR quietly pleads)

How much can I endure?

 

ELSIE:

I’m so glad to bring on this change –

Free from temptations,

Free to rearrange,

Far from old associations.

 

ARTHUR:

In this environment so strange -

Free from affections,

Free to so enrange

Far from hopeful affirmations.

(a due)

(ELSIE again gets her hands on ARTHUR’s shoulders, and by the time she comes to the word “family,” he has crumpled to the floor on his knees. She hovers over him in what she perceives as soothing comfort, but which he believes to be threatening menace.)

 

ELSIE:

And soon we’ll have a full marriage –

I know you agree,

That only parentage

Completes a loving family.

 

Here you can rest assure –

You’re unlikely to meet a soul.

Here we can have closure,

And let sweet Love exact her toll.

(aside)

Move from wooed to wooer.

 

ARTHUR:

(aside)

Here you’d have me abjure –

And kill the last hope of my soul.

Here you think you’ll have cure,

And let Revenge exact your toll.

(quietly pleading to ELSIE)

How much can I endure?

(a due)

 

 

No. 44 – Recitativo ed Duettino con Cavatina

(Enter MAMMA and LETTY chatting. ELSIE helps ARTHUR to his feet.)

 

MAMMA:

…This is a quality hotel –

Not the best, but respectable.

(ARTHUR rushes over to MAMMA and LETTY, and the door, but tries to suppress a hint of panic)

 

ARTHUR:

Elsie, (with forced glibness) it feels like I'm drowning –

In all this female company.

(making momentary eye-contact with LETTY who starts at his bleakness. She glances as MAMMA who has seen this too)

I think I shall go for a walk…

(MAMMA looks commandingly to ELSIE, who grudgingly nods consent to ARTHUR. Exit ARTHUR, and a few moments later, MAMMA goes after him unnoticed by the girls.)

 

[Duettino]

ELSIE:

(to LETTY)

I feel love extends me a rope

To bind new beginnings with old hope.

(She grabs LETTY’s hands joyfully. They move before the scrim as lights fade on the hotel room.)

 

LETTY:

Elsie, I’m afraid I must think,

In this bond, you are the weakest link.

(dropping ELSIE’s hands to symbolize the broken bond)

 

[Cavatina]

Just compare your morose Arthur

With my passionate London beau –

(dancing with her letters)

Waltzing, writing letters to me,

Letters waiting at this hotel –

Waiting to praise my rosy cheeks,

Longing to hold my ivory hands –

(turning coldly to ELSIE)

How does that compare to Arthur?

(pleading)

I see no hope in his dread of you dim,

You don’t want to face how you’ve hurt him.

 

ELSIE:

(tearing up)

I feel love extends me a rope

To bind new beginnings with old hope.

 

LETTY:

Elsie, I’m afraid I must think,

In this bond, you are the weakest link.

(a due at recapitulation)

 

ELSIE and LETTY:

Cross purposes –

New hope/No hope

New air/Sad air

New beginnings/

Old proceedings –

Cross purposes.

 

(darkness – end one Scene One. The women exit in the dark)

 

   

Scene Two: “A Sharpening Fear”

(The intrada introduces street sounds, horse hooves, cab whistles, etc. Slowly the scrim rises and reveals Fifth Avenue near 23^rd Street. The CORO is going about its business – couples are walking, and the sidewalk is full of vendors, newsboys, etc. Stage center rear is the columned portico of a hotel. Here younger men in red ties and green carnationed buttonholes, pace slowly catching the eye of slightly older men. Occasionally, two of these greet each other coolly and make their way together down the sidewalk.)

 

No. 45 – Intrada con Coro

 

MALE CORO:

There are some spots notorious

Where men can seek men of like kind,

Where even tourists amatorious

Have no trouble this kind of spot to find.

No one finds it spurious, no?

 

FEMALE CORO:

Why so many men milling ‘round

This one strange Hotel’s portico –

Have they no appointments to keep them sound

And away from sidewalk’s embroglio.

No one finds it curious, no?

(together at recapitulation)

 

(The intrada returns with street sounds. Enter ARTHUR from stage left walking down the sidewalk and making his way through the crowd. Behind him can be seen a casual, but secretive MAMMA. Slowly the crowd begins to exit. When ARTHUR pauses in front of the portico, MAMMA stops and pretends to be window-shopping. Soon ARTHUR stumbles from the portico towards stage front with his back to the audience. ARTHUR has seen something in the hotel lobby that knocks him back on his heels. MAMMA notes this, and as the crowd continues to thin, DILL enters from the hotel. He quickly moves to stage center front and joins ARTHUR. MAMMA, astonished, keeps her eyes on them.)

 

No. 46 – Recitativo ed Duetto

(Slowly the street scene dims behind them and the chorus exits as if going about their business. MAMMA moves to stage left and observes the men unseen.)

 

DILL:

Arthur…

 

ARTHUR:

Could it really be you…

You haven’t abandoned me yet?

 

DILL:

(coming closer, but stopping because ARTHUR acts reticent)

Foolish lad to let yourself think,

A mere puddling ocean could keep

Your Pythias from his Damon?

 

ARTHUR:

I can not go on like this, Dill.

Sometimes I think I’d rather die,

Than be yoked under her blackmail.

 

[Duetto – Part 1]

DILL:

Don’t speak so rashly,

For you don’t mean it.

 

ARTHUR:

You don’t understand,

For you’ve not lived it.

 

DILL:

I’ve lived it with you from afar,

For you have been my only thought.

I should not have let you go that night,

(DILL goes up and embraces ARTHUR from behind)

But, right or wrong, it seemed the best.

 

ARTHUR:

I felt you near me from afar –

Your hand protecting me I thought,

But, then you fade in the endless night,

And, helplessness, robs me of rest.

(a due at recapitulation – they begin to dance with ARTHUR extending his arm, and DILL lovingly matching and supporting it)

 

ARTHUR:

(ARTHUR moves out of DILL’s arms, and confronts him)

You don’t understand,

For you’ve not lived it.

 

DILL:

Don’t speak so rashly,

For you don’t mean it.

 

[Part 2 - Cavatina]

ARTHUR:

You can’t imagine it –

When I try to close my eyes,

My sleepless brain flashes back,

Then I feel some sharpening cries,

A stabbing in my gut –

(turning away with shameful sobs)

But the worst panic rises through

Recalling how she threatened you.

(DILL rushes to ARTHUR, but ARTHUR raises a hand in warning)

 

I know I deserve it all –

But you – you did nothing…

(his warning hand turning to a momentary reaching for sympathy)

But dare to love me completely.

(turning inward)

I see a constrained future,

And a reduced capacity –

To all good I’m numb, I’ll admit

(crumples to his knees, hands to his face)

I see no point but, to end it.

 

DILL:

You don't know how it stabs –

To see you suffer this way,

And when you did nothing wrong,

But follow what I had to say.

Oh Arthur, forgive me –

For can't you see through your sorrow,

I'm guilty down to my marrow.

 

I know I deserve the fall,

But you – you did nothing…

But dare to love me completely.

I will see our love endure,

And so build a new honesty –

To accept my blame, I'll admit,

(stands behinds the crumpled figure of ARTHUR)

If you can only accept it.

(a due at recapitulation)

 

[Part 3]

(DILL picks ARTHUR bodily up by the shoulders, forcing a hug on ARTHUR who slowly responds by first clinging onto DILL's back, then hugging him as the men resume their dance. A groggy hint of hope creeps into ARTHUR as DILL continues to encourage a return to sanity.)

 

DILL:

Don’t speak so rashly,

For you don’t mean it.

 

ARTHUR:

You don’t understand,

For you’ve not lived it.

(a due at recapitulation)

 

DILL:

(embracing him harder – jubilant at ARTHUR's hold on him)

My winning lad, you must heal now

As I shield you within my love –

The seed sewn has been smothered, but now

It has opportunity to grow.

 

ARTHUR:

My shining knight, you are here now

As I find myself within your love –

The seed of fear is smothered, but now

Love has opportunity to grow.

 

DILL:

(holding ARTHUR at arm’s length)

I’m here now, here for good,

And though I have made mistakes,

For you I will renounce

Pointless Society through –

(MAMMA is aghast)

Ambitions I’ll denounce,

For the chance to atone with you.

 

DILL:

My winning lad, you must heal now

As I shield you within my love –

The seed sewn has been smothered, but now

It has opportunity to grow.

 

ARTHUR:

My shining knight, you are here now

As I find myself within your love –

The seed of fear is smothered, but now

Love has opportunity to grow.

(a due)

 

DILL:

(wiping away ARTHUR’s tears)

We’ll find our own greenwood,

I’ll do whatever it takes,

Struggle to my last ounce,

To see our love minted new –

Pretenses I’ll renounce,

For the chance to stay true to you.

 

[Part 4]

ARTHUR:

(seeing fearful hope)

A land of figs and olive branches,

Where fear finds it must submit,

Out of the reach of the law,

That against us discriminates.

 

DILL:

A land of peace and neighbor fences,

Where men are judged by merit

And not of a perceived flaw

That against themselves recriminates.

 

ARTHUR:

Somewhere Dill, a greenwood waits for us,

A world of warmth and orange blooms.

 

DILL:

Somewhere Art, a dream that’s marvelous,

A world where freedom the air perfumes.

(a due - they tenderly kiss, and MAMMA, deeply touched, puts her hand on her heart)

 

ARTHUR and DILL:

A place that calm greenwood embraces,

Where love all can benefit,

And live safe within its awe

Where no one it intimidates.

 

 

Scene Three: “Just Like Papa”

(behind the scrim, in the dark, is the hotel suite with ELSIE and LETTY already on stage)

 

No. 47 – Recitativo con Terzettino

 

MAMMA:

(stepping forward – nonchalantly)

It’s time you boys come back with me.

(The lights come up on the hotel suite as the scrim rises. ELSIE gasps at the sight of DILL. She points in horror.)

 

ELSIE:

You!?! How…?

 

MAMMA:

(stepping between ARTHUR and ELSIE’s quickly advancing step. The men look at each other deeply puzzled as MAMMA says to ELSIE:)

Elsie, listen. Be still.

For there was no "other woman" –

You misconstrued my words that day –

I left you to puzzle it out,

(exasperated)

But, alas, you've yet to do so.

(with an over-wash of genuine pity)

Arthur has always loved, the Captain,

(tenderly)

Elsie dear, never anyone else.

(enter MRS. RAVENER from stage left as an observer)

 

[Terzettino]

MAMMA:

(to ELSIE)

Do you see?

To each they have been true.

(to ARTHUR)

She has never meant to threaten

Disgrace, or scandal through

The harsh words spoken in love then.

 

Do you see?

That Elsie never knew.

 

ARTHUR:

(stunned – looking at an equally stunned ELSIE)

Can it be...

That what she says is true?

(a due at recapitulation)

 

 

LETTY:

(to ELSIE)

Don’t you see?

For they thought that you knew.

 

For you pursued this marriage then,

Boldly, and reckless through,

When escape’s chance came to beckon.

 

Don’t you see?

That what he feels is true.

 

ARTHUR:

Can it be...

That Elsie never knew?

(a due at recapitulation)

 

MAMMA, ARTHUR and LETTY:

How were we to intercede?

Like a book freed from its shelf,

You opened, and no one could read

You needed protection from yourself.

 

 

No. 48 – Recitativo ed Arietta

 

MAMMA:

(ushering ARTHUR, DILL and LETTY out the door)

Let me talk to Elsie alone.

(exit above)

 

Elsie dear, when I said Arthur

Was just like Papa – I meant just

Like Papa. I married knowing –

I married with rules to safeguard.

Safeguards for you when you were born,

Rules to guard my reputation.

(with bitter anger)

And I would have dealt with that man –

That blackmailer too – if Papa

Had been wise enough to tell me.

(sadly – forcing ELSIE to hold her gaze)

But he took matters

Into his own hands –

And deprived daughter of father,

And your mother of a husband.

 

[Arietta]

You have a right to be angry,

You have a right to be hurt –

But it would be elusory

Onto another your shame divert.

Arthur is a good boy,

But he’s nearly beyond

Reason’s reach.

Don’t let your father’s fate

Seal his own and doom you

To more guilt than you deserve.

(recap: “You have a right to be angry” etc)

 

(Exit MAMMA)

 

No. 49 – Scena dell’Ombra

 

[Part 1 - Recitativo]

ELSIE:

(There is partial darkness in the room. In the obscurity, ARTHUR enters and lies on his back on the round table. MRS. RAVENER drapes her shawl over his form.)

Blow upon blow…

Did I deserve any?

 

Quick as a flash

The inexplicable

Is laid exposed.

The torment I caused,

The fear I engendered –

It makes me shutter.

(looking around – lost)

And, for Arthur?

(seeing a form on the table)

How will it end for him?

 

If I maintain…

If I insist…

Drastic action

Would be his only release.

If I deprive…

If I took away…

He from his captain

Death would be his one release.

 

I imagine Arthur,

(extending her arms to his form)

Lifeless in some hotel room –

Victim to all his fears,

(lights rise darkly on ARTHUR’s form, who slowly raises his hand towards ELSIE, then extends a finger to weakly point accusation her way)

Victim of my shameful will,

And with that selfsame hand,

That accomplished the sad deed,

(recoiling in horror as the finger points)

Even then accuses me –

‘Who else’ it points ‘but thee.’

 

[Part 2 - Cavatina]

In this shadow play,

Obscurity fades –

Which real, which projection?

Will he look back upon me,

With mixed pity and shame?

When the autumn leaves fall –

Do the branches care at all?

 

Phantom shadow

Of a short future,

If I deprive that heart

Of the love it needs to live,

Arthur will go the way

Of least painful path free –

Greatest punishment for me.

(The lights fade on ARTHUR. MRS. RAVENER removes the shawl from ARTHUR, and slowly goes to ELSIE to comfort her. ARTHUR exits in obscurity, and the CORO takes the flank positions.)

 

[Part 3 - Aria]

Sorrow falls about me,

Did I deserve this at all?

No hopeful outcome can I see

When every pretense must fall.

I blame myself,

For who else would not?

Soon the world will know itself

My shameful, failed plot.

(Recap: “Sorrow swims about me” etc. ELSIE eventually falls to her knees and MRS. RAVENER stands behind her with the shawl descending on ELSIE’s shoulders.)

 

[Part 4 – Duettino con Coro]

MRS. RAVENER:

(She dances slowly behind ELSIE. Without touching her, MRS. RAVENER tugs ELSIE one way then the other trying to free herself from her guilt.)

Your heart blossomed too young,

And thus cased in frost,

Like an early Spring bloom sprung

To the winter’s air, is lost.

 

You and I started here,

Destined to be.

The arc of our pain joins here,

And I leave it to be free.

ELSIE: I accuse myself...

I absolve myself

ELSIE: I am guilty…

I am guilt-free

 

ELSIE:

(rising to her feet, first noticing her newly-placed shawl)

Garlands slip my shoulders,

While I bear the blame,

And a mantel of sorrow bolder

Cloaks me tight within my blame.

 

Stunned by the magnitude,

My mind seems blank –

Beaten by misfortune crude,

(gripping her shawl around her)

My poor heart is starved and lank.

MRS. RAVENER: I absolve myself...

I accuse myself

MRS. RAVENER: I am guilt-free...

I am guilty.

(a due)

 

MRS. RAVENER and ELSIE:

The daylily only

Opens for the sun,

The moonflower for Phoebe,

While each the other loves shun.

 

Thus is it folly-prone

To expect Nature

To respond against its own

For the sake of another.

 

CORO:

(MRS. RAVENER turns ELSIE around and the two begin to dance together)

For here is the descent

Of Elsie into grief –

And here begins the ascent

Of Mrs. Ravener’s relief.

They meet in passing,

Their arcs so crossing –

One to forgive,

One to relive.

 

 

MRS. RAVENER and ELSIE:

You and I started here,

Destined to be.

The arc of our pain joins here,

ELSIE: My fall to catastrophe

MRS. RAVENER: My leaving it to be free.

 

CORO, MRS. RAVENER and ELSIE:

Stunned by the magnitude,

Elsie’s/My mind seems blank –

Beaten by misfortune crude,

Her/My poor heart is starved and lank.

MRS. RAVENER: I rise from the dank

Her/My mind – blank

MRS. RAVENER: to take my life back

Her/My heart – slack.

 

 

Post-Scene Three – Licenza “No Happy Endings”

(Same as above. The light rise darkly on the Coro)

 
 

No. 50 – Finale dell’Opera

 

[Part 1 – Epigrafe Concludo]

CORO:

If one blow to one single heart

Delays supply to the mighty oak,

The tree must fall, despite the start,

And kill the other heart in one stroke.

 

(As the CORO concludes, we hear a light wrap on the door. The lights brighten on the room as ELSIE dries her tears and straightens her skirt. Enter MAMMA, who first gauges ELSIE’s condition, then waves in LETTY, followed by ARTHUR and DILL. The men wear traveling coats; carry portmanteaux and their hats)

 

[Part 2 – Recitativo]

ELSIE:

(bitterly, but calmly to ARTHUR)

You stand there, wanting me to play

A redemptive Dionysus

To your Damon and Pythias –

But, I cannot…

No, I cannot.

(The men drop their bags and turn sick and stricken looks at each other. MAMMA glares at ELSIE with sternness, and LETTY begins to run to ELSIE who raises her hand for LETTY to stop, she then raises her voice as she glares at DILL.)

I can't join a chorus of love

That exists but to exclude me

From anything but misery.

(turning away from the men)

Go, take your leave…

Leave me alone.

(LETTY walks over and hugs ELSIE’s shoulders. MRS. RAVENER takes a corner of the shawl and teaches ELSIE how to wipe her tears with it.)

 

[Part 3 – Esecuzione d'Insieme]

CORO:

The truth is ever

A slight to someone,

But the courage of one

Can be strength to everyone.

 

LETTY and MAMMA:

She could not have been braver –

Elsie, you’ve done right by everyone.

 

ELSIE and MRS. RAVENER:

Though the process may be slow –

Let absolution bestow

Rest on a marriage below zero.

 

CORO:

Though the process may be slow –

Let absolution bestow

Rest on a marriage below zero.

(together at recapitulation)

 

ARTHUR and DILL:

(taking hands)

What we need now or never

Is a space where healing has begun.

 

LETTY and MAMMA:

She could not have been braver –

Elsie, you’ve done right by everyone.

 

ELSIE, MRS. RAVENER and CORO:

Though the process may be slow –

Let absolution bestow

Rest on a marriage below zero.

 

ARTHUR and DILL:

What we need now or never

Is a space where healing has begun.

(together at recapitulation)

 

 

CORO:

The truth is ever

A slight to someone,

But the courage of one

Can be strength to everyone.

 

 

[Part 4 – Tutti]

TUTTI:

No happy endings

As we make our way

Through the heartless world,

But equitable reasonings

Make courage hold sway

Through the feckless whirl.

 

 

(Darkness – Fine di Opera)